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Air Sasquatch may soon be flying through another densely forested area.
While the Portland Trail Blazers made the somewhat curious decision to guarantee all of the $5 million owed to veteran center Chris Kaman for the 2015-16 season, that doesn't mean he's long for Rip City.
General manager Neil Olshey admitted as much this week, and while he didn't say that Kaman is on the trading block, he didn't mince words about the team's new directive.
It’s younger guys, that their best days are ahead of them. In terms of how they're all going to fit together, we’ll see how quick that takes place.
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Chris has value to us as a player, as a person, but he also understands the business nature of this, that if he has to be included in a deal, he was ready to roll the dice because it was more preferable to him to maybe have the opportunity to stay in Portland.
Sitting well below the salary cap, the Blazers can afford to pay Kaman $5 million to provide veteran leadership. Kaman also would've fit a more immediate competitive timeline had LaMarcus Aldridge returned.
It wouldn't be surprising to see Kaman moved at some point to a contender in need of interior depth. The 33-year-old still has value, having averaged 8.6 points and 6.5 rebounds in 18.9 minutes last season while shooting 51.5 percent.
In the meantime, Kaman may see his role diminished. The Blazers have Meyers Leonard and Mason Plumlee at center and Noah Vonleh and Ed Davis at power forward - each is younger and a more logical candidate for playing time in a rebuilding year.
"Chris is clearly on a different path than the group of guys that are going to get the majority of the playing time," Olshey said.
Kaman has appeared in 719 games with five teams over 12 seasons, averaging 11.4 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks while shooting 48.9 percent.
